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Study Ranks Albany Med in 'Top 10’ Nationwide for Quality and Safety

ALBANY, N.Y., September 22, 2008 –Albany Medical Center ranked ninth out of 88 academic medical centers across the nation for high performance in quality and safety according to an annual study conducted by the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC). The UHC is an alliance that represents approximately 90 percent of the nation’s non-profit academic medical centers.  Additionally, Albany Med was presented with a “Rising Star” award from the UHC for significant overall score improvement.

Launched in 2005, the Quality and Accountability Study was designed to help academic medical centers identify structures and practices that are associated with high performance in quality and safety across a wide variety of patient populations. The scoring and ranking covers the domains of patient safety, effectiveness, mortality, patient-centeredness and equity.  Albany Medical Center received a composite score of 71.0 as compared to the group median of 64.2. 

“Unlike so-called ‘hospital report cards,’ many of which are based on financial data, or on select patient populations, or upon some other questionable methodologies, the UHC report is based on measures agreed upon and supported by this nation’s leading academic medical centers,” said James J. Barba, president and chief executive officer of Albany Medical Center. “This report—once and for all—confirms that we are doing an outstanding job in delivering clinical quality and patient safety to our patients. Residents of the Capital Region should take great pride in knowing that the care provided by the staff of Albany Medical Center is among the best care available in the nation.”

Albany Medical Center and four other UHC member organizations were presented with the “Rising Star” award at a ceremony at the eighth annual UHC Quality and Safety Fall Forum meeting held on Thursday, Sept. 18 in Scottsdale, AZ, where approximately 700 representatives from academic medical centers from across country attended.

The study’s authors said top performers such as Albany Medical Center shared five key attributes in common: a share sense of purpose, outstanding leadership, an accountability system, a focus on results and a culture of collaboration. They also said that based on the study’s findings, the difference in yearly outcomes between a top performer like Albany Med and a middle performer would include:

- A total of 137 fewer deaths (after risk adjustment)
- A total of 66 fewer preventable complications (after risk adjustment)
- And a total of 69 fewer related re-admissions

“UHC acknowledges the staff at Albany Medical Center for focusing on quality and safety improvement efforts. Because so many academic medical centers are working earnestly in these areas, we want to recognize those whose performance upwards in rankings are noteworthy among peer organizations,” sad Mark Keroack, MD, MPH, vice president and director of UHC’s Clinical Practice Advancement Center.

The University HealthSystem Consortium, formed in 1984, is an alliance of 102 academic medical centers and 191 of their affiliated hospitals representing approximately 90 percent of the nation’s non-profit academic medical centers. Its mission is to advance knowledge, foster collaboration, and promote change to help members succeed in their respective markets by offering its members specific programs and services to improve clinical, operational and patient safety performance.

Albany Medical Center is northeastern New York’s only academic health sciences center. It consists of Albany Medical College, Albany Medical Center Hospital and the Albany Medical Center Foundation, Inc. Additional information about Albany Medical Center can be found at www.amc.edu.

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